Dear Editor,
As a French traveler entering Guyana from Lethem through the savannah and jungle, I didn’t have any expectations, nor any idea of what the country look liked. But while going through the long dirt road heading to Georgetown, I could already feel the distances and imagine life overflowing beyond the side road trees.
When reaching the capital, I was struck by how different Guyana is from its South American neighbours. Minibuses driving along the seawall, on the left side, playing Caribbean music. Singers and passengers speaking Creolese and English, sun and rain alternating, mangos falling and banana flowers blooming. I feel in the Caribbean and in fact, I am.
I was lucky enough to meet a local Guyanese who then brought me to what makes this place so beautiful and diverse. We walked in the cool afternoon, stopped for a doubles on the side of the road, let ourselves dance on the sound of the steel pan festival before resting in one of those elevated, wooden, elegant and inviting typical houses.
What makes it truly special is how easily you can go from singing in a Mandir, driven by the voice of the Pandit, the dynamic Dholak and the Harmonium’s chords; to watching the Mashramani’s parade with its colourful and joyful costumes and people. Knowing that the next day you might be feeding the manatees in the National Park or petting fifty dogs and fifty cats at Judy’s Hope for Animals Inc…
The little things are what makes a place interesting. The authenticity and generosity of a street vendor, the smile of a bus driver, the “Wha happenin?” of old man and the bright “Buenos días” of the Cuban preparing you a delicious hot dog.
But if you dig deeper, an interesting place is a place that lives. A place made of the people making it move every day. Women and men from any background or region. The heart and the beat. They are the diversity and the reason why everything works together. A reason bigger than any other to come and discover a country developing its tourism products.